Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team opened the home portion of its schedule on Friday night, hosting Central Baptist College for the Conway Classic. The Bears got a hat trick from freshman Niklas Brodacki as they took out the Mustangs 4-0.

The Bears (2-0-0) got the scoring started in the fifth minute, when Daltyn Knutson and Pepe San Roman combined to find Brodacki, who slotted it inside the back post to put the Bears up 1-0. Chris Holmes added to the lead in the 40^th minute, fielding a pass from Tyler Ridener and connecting with a rocket from 30 yards out to make it 2-0.

Brodacki would find the net again in the 65^th minute, collecting a pass from Harris Partain and putting it away from 16 yards out to extend the UCA lead to 3-0, before capping the night's offense in the 76^th minute by hammering home a rebound from eight yards out to complete the hat trick.

"It's a nice change this year, to have such offensive output," said UCA head coach Ross Duncan. "We've got guys in the attack that can break teams down on the dribble, that can combine in the wide areas, our service has been very good. With Niklas getting the three, that's him being special at the right times, but he also got the ball put on a platter for some fairly easy finishes for a guy of his caliber. And I can't say enough about Chris. That's two games in a row with a special, special individual effort, and that's a really great finish."

Central Arkansas also continued the strong defensive play that is began in last weekend's season opener. The Bears allowed just three shots on the night, limiting the Mustangs to a pair of shots on goal.

"The back line has been fantastic in both games so far in limiting our opponents to low numbers on the attacking side," said Duncan. "We step a lot of guys forward in the attack, so we ask a lot of them in transition. They have to cover a lot of ground, they have to cover for our attacking players, so it's nice to see guys that are bought into the system and disciplined enough to do it."

On the night, the Bears put eight shots on goal, led by Brodacki's three. UCA also got shots on target from San Roman, Knutson, Holmes, and Jacob Jerles. In goal, Marc Olsen made a pair of saves to earn his second clean sheet of the season.

The Bears hit the road for their next match, travelling to Atlanta, Georgia to battle Georgia State. Kickoff is set for 1:00 PM on Sunday afternoon.